Many of us use a variety of software and apps in day-to-day life. With the increasing demand for apps and software, modern users prioritize speed and stability when choosing software, whether for personal or business use. This is where performance testing comes into play.
Performance testing is an important aspect of software quality assurance that focuses on assessing its speed, stability, and reliability under various loads. This is the reason, software developers usually hire performance testing service providers to ensure the speed and stability of their apps.
In this article, I will discuss the value of performance testing in software development and how it
Performance Testing Explained
Performance testing is an important stage of non-functional testing, which measures the stability of the software and response time under various loads. Such testing allows you to identify problems that can lead to failures in the system, application, or site.
Performance testing service also includes checking how quickly websites and applications respond to user input. People expect fast response times, and a slow-loading web page leads to them leaving to look for another resource.
Performance testing is, therefore, necessary if you want to ensure the quality and reliability of your software after release and beyond.
Main Types of Performance Testing
The two most common types of performance testing are stress testing and load testing:
Stress testing
Stress testing involves checking the stability and reliability of the IT infrastructure and provides an accurate assessment of its ability to support a large number of operations simultaneously. In other words, stress testing is aimed at determining the maximum threshold of failure of the IT solution by simulating high user activity.
Such activity analysis allows you to track the state of the software in different phases of use, which ensures greater reliability with less time and financial costs. Stress testing is especially relevant if you are planning to launch a big sale or a new promotion.
Load testing
Load testing measures the ability of the infrastructure to support the expected load on the IT solution, as opposed to the extreme volumes of operations associated with stress testing. Here, experts also recreate realistic conditions and user behavior of the resource. Load tests are carried out so that a website, application, or API can simultaneously handle a specific number of users.
Load tests are designed to identify weaknesses in the software server and modern application infrastructure so that fixes can be made quickly, and the tests can be re-run.
The difference between load and stress tests is that load testing can be run for a long time, and pauses can be introduced into the load tests to simulate real user traffic. With a stress test, you can run as many concurrent users as possible in a short period of time to generate excess traffic for the stress test.
Who Needs Performance Testing?
Performance testing is especially relevant for critical IT solutions in areas such as healthcare, medicine, biotechnology, automotive, manufacturing, aviation, and defense. It is also important for retail, e-commerce, financial services, education, and public sector organizations.
If performance testing is not performed, there can be serious consequences. And if you lose customers, you lose business. Inefficient software will hit your profits and reputation hard.
How to Choose The Right Performance Testing Tool?
What to look for when choosing a program for performance testing? Let’s look at the main parameters to consider:
- Simplicity. The graphical interface should be simple and user-friendly. This will save time on learning the product and creating tests.
- Accessible environment. The tool should have access to hardware and network resources to create the necessary conditions for testing (increase in traffic volume, data, etc.).
- Efficiency. It is important to consider the number of virtual users that the testing system can simultaneously host on one operating device. The greater the number of participants, the higher the efficiency of the tool.
- Scalability. To evaluate the capabilities of the testing platform, conduct a trial test and evaluate whether the selected tool can simulate the loads you need.
- Protocols. Consider the protocols that the program supports. It is important that they are compatible with the protocols of your web resource.
- Cost. When comparing prices, pay attention to the functionality offered for this cost. Typically, the cheaper the plan, the fewer features it has.
- Integration. The more different programs a load testing tool integrates with, the more diagnostic and monitoring metrics it can provide.
- Adaptability and scalability. Pay attention to whether the testing system you choose can expand and connect to third-party tools if necessary.
- Support. Check what level of user support the system guarantees you. Commercial platforms usually have multiple channels of communication with users. If you have open-source software, find out if the testing program interacts with various forums, open communities, etc.
What Problems Can Be Avoided With the Help of Performance Testing?
Timely performance testing solves a whole range of problems:
- Any system deviations are tracked at the very beginning. Therefore, the web resource works quickly, without errors, and is stable.
- Having test results in hand, you will know the functional potential of your software and the strength of the site, and based on this, build a business strategy.
- Performance testing reveals key software difficulties. This allows you to quickly eliminate errors before launch. Then, during the work process, you can focus on improving business processes, rather than wasting time on correcting software defects.
- Performance testing allows you to more effectively manage the volume of a web application and the ability to perform load tests.
- Each test performed allows programmers to maintain the quality of the code and improve the functions of the web resource.
- A site that works without failures, with fast loading and response, causes a positive reaction from customers.
Final Thoughts
Performance testing is an effective tool that allows you to increase the competitiveness of a software product. Testing results help businesses prevent failures, improve user experience, and ensure the scalability of their solutions. If you are looking for high-quality performance testing solutions, we recommend paying attention to PFLB.
